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Don't know how many here are US.. I've personally never seen a 2 lane roundabout in the US.
I was trying to post a photo of the one I drive through the most, but couldn't get it to work.
That circle is 2 lanes on the eastbound and westbound sides, and one lane on the northbound and southbound sides. The inside lane can go all the way around, exit going east or west alongside the outer lane, and when you are entering from the northbound/southbound entrances (which are single lane, the other two entrances are double-lane) you can get into that single inner lane if you are quick about it. The outer lanes are only on the eastbound and westbound sides, and can only go halfway around from the point of entrance, and can only use the 1st and 2nd exits they come to.
You were in the wrong lane. She thought you were going to go out that 2nd exit. I've had idiots pull that stunt on me a lot, when I've been on the inside lane looking to use an exit that come off both the inside and inside lanes, and these people are looking to get into the circle, and think that I am continuing around, when I'm not. I've taken to flashing my brights at the cars looking to enter and giving them my "I'll WHOMP your rear end if you pull in and hit me" look. People com flying up to the entrance points and looking like they aren't going to stop.
Yep, same here. My horn has gotten a lot of use on these drivers.
This is a pretty extreme scenario, if I am understanding correctly - car 2 hasn't even made it 1/4 around the roundabout to the first possible exit, but car 5 (who entered at the same time) has already made it nearly 3/4 around.... the only time I could see this happening is a stalled vehicle or a very confused driver (2) who has no clue what they are doing. In which case proceed with caution as you would in a non-roundabout situation.
That's the point. Everything flows smoothly in a perfect world.. But.. When things are NOT perfect is where the consideration has to come in. Because nothing is ever perfect.
So, the inside lane basically has to yield to the outside lane in some situation like this. And.. While yes, it would be rare for it to happen.. Look.. People miss shifts.. You get junior out there driving a stick for the first time and he stalls it out. Someone has car problems and it chokes down as they pull out. Guy with a plugged exhaust is limping it to the shop. Someone freaks out at this fancy doohickey of a two lane roundabout. There's alot of possibility for something like this to happen, and it becomes something of a cluster if it does.
The elimination of the problem is.. Right lane, right turn only. Let the left lane do whatever they want.. it can make a right, it can go straight, it can make a left.. But the right lane MUST turn right.
If it's setup like that.. You eliminate the chance for a collision. Other than someone trying to change lanes or something, which they shouldn't be doing.
And thank you, for being the one person after 7 pages to actually read and comprehend the situation I was describing.
Your phrasing doesn't make a bit of sense. Here it is, in plain English:
Both cars are entering from the same entrance. The blue car in the outside lane can ONLY exit onto the first and second exits it comes to. If the blue car wants to go farther around than halfway, it has to change to the inside lane (or better yet, be smart enough to have gotten into that inner lane before even entering the circle). The red car, on the inside lane, can exit using the 2nd exit (going halfway around the circle), the third exit (going 3/4 of the way around), or all the way around, going out the same side of the circle it came in. The red car cannot use that first exit to its immediate left, because it would be cutting across the blue car's lane.
The circle I drive the most, in Latham, NY, is 2 lanes on the sections heading east and west, and one lane on the north and south sections. It's probably one of the first built in the country (1934), and it's a good 3 times the size of the ones that have been built in recent years.
You completely forgot there are 4 entrances to the roundabout. This was already discussed in later posts.
That's the point. Everything flows smoothly in a perfect world.. But.. When things are NOT perfect is where the consideration has to come in. Because nothing is ever perfect.
So, the inside lane basically has to yield to the outside lane in some situation like this. And.. While yes, it would be rare for it to happen.. Look.. People miss shifts.. You get junior out there driving a stick for the first time and he stalls it out. Someone has car problems and it chokes down as they pull out. Guy with a plugged exhaust is limping it to the shop. Someone freaks out at this fancy doohickey of a two lane roundabout. There's alot of possibility for something like this to happen, and it becomes something of a cluster if it does.
The elimination of the problem is.. Right lane, right turn only. Let the left lane do whatever they want.. it can make a right, it can go straight, it can make a left.. But the right lane MUST turn right.
If it's setup like that.. You eliminate the chance for a collision. Other than someone trying to change lanes or something, which they shouldn't be doing.
And thank you, for being the one person after 7 pages to actually read and comprehend the situation I was describing.
That's the point. Everything flows smoothly in a perfect world.. But.. When things are NOT perfect is where the consideration has to come in. Because nothing is ever perfect.
So, the inside lane basically has to yield to the outside lane in some situation like this. And.. While yes, it would be rare for it to happen.. Look.. People miss shifts.. You get junior out there driving a stick for the first time and he stalls it out. Someone has car problems and it chokes down as they pull out. Guy with a plugged exhaust is limping it to the shop. Someone freaks out at this fancy doohickey of a two lane roundabout. There's alot of possibility for something like this to happen, and it becomes something of a cluster if it does.
The elimination of the problem is.. Right lane, right turn only. Let the left lane do whatever they want.. it can make a right, it can go straight, it can make a left.. But the right lane MUST turn right.
If it's setup like that.. You eliminate the chance for a collision. Other than someone trying to change lanes or something, which they shouldn't be doing.
And thank you, for being the one person after 7 pages to actually read and comprehend the situation I was describing.
The point is flow. By cutting out the straight option for the right hand lane for the once in a hot pink moon scenario you illustrate, you cut the flow pretty drastically. Just to eliminate the possibility of a slow speed bumper bash/side scrape.
I regularly drive a road that has 4 back to back roundabouts. 2 of them single lanes and 2 doubles. Never seen an accident in any of them. But see accidents at traditional intersections pretty regularly.
The only exit you can’t take from the inside lane is that first right turn. You can’t get trapped. Heck you can even make that first right from the inside if you loop around once.
People aren’t going 50mph through these things. You can pull out(or not stop) as long as you just have a few car lengths.
Here - the Twin Cities - they actually angle the approach so that even if there is no one in the roundabout to whom you have to yield, you have to slow down on approach. It really works well in doing that.
And you select either the inner or outer lane on approach, illegal to change within the roundabouts.
They have been game changers here, once people bothered to learn how to use them. Far fewer accidents, those accidents that occur are less serious and traffic flows much, much better than the old four-way stoplighted intersections.
My take on roundabouts is they work good for either low volume, medium speed or high volume, low speed. But as volume goes up everything has to work perfectly. The biggest flaw were I see things failing to work perfectly is when someone who doesn't know the road is suddenly confronted with one and hasn't set up to be in the proper lane before they get there and doesn't know which exit is the one they want out of it. That's what leads to people cutting across the flow of traffic.
It looks simple in the OP diagram because only one entrance is shown in use. In reality all entrances are in use which leads to traffic crossing the flow. We were just in one were there was a stalled truck in one lane that was causing a backup going out one side. This was propagating all through the roundabout affecting other flows that normally wouldn't cross that path. Wouldn't have taken many more cars to lock up the whole thing.
I think they work well on the smaller intersections but I'm not a fan for high volume/high speed flow.
That's the point. Everything flows smoothly in a perfect world.. But.. When things are NOT perfect is where the consideration has to come in. Because nothing is ever perfect.
So, the inside lane basically has to yield to the outside lane in some situation like this. And.. While yes, it would be rare for it to happen.. Look.. People miss shifts.. You get junior out there driving a stick for the first time and he stalls it out. Someone has car problems and it chokes down as they pull out. Guy with a plugged exhaust is limping it to the shop. Someone freaks out at this fancy doohickey of a two lane roundabout. There's alot of possibility for something like this to happen, and it becomes something of a cluster if it does.
The elimination of the problem is.. Right lane, right turn only. Let the left lane do whatever they want.. it can make a right, it can go straight, it can make a left.. But the right lane MUST turn right.
If it's setup like that.. You eliminate the chance for a collision. Other than someone trying to change lanes or something, which they shouldn't be doing.
And thank you, for being the one person after 7 pages to actually read and comprehend the situation I was describing.
This still won't eliminate people who get in the wrong lane or scenarios you mention at all. Missed shifts, truck stalls, car problems pulling out, someone freaking out. None of those are fixed by making the right lane forced to turn right. What if the roundabout is a T-intersection with no right turn? What if it's on a road with 2 lanes in each direction? Do you force everyone that isn't turning right into the left lane to get through the roundabout and then widen it back to 2 lanes again? You're going to create major backups now.
And they did away with both of them because of too many accidents.
They have been putting a few in where I live in SW Florida. Big mistake IMO as chaos ensues at some of our 4 way stop signs where there are two lanes going in each direction. Nobody wants to move or everybody tries to go at the same time. My sister purposely avoids a road near her house because they put a roundabout in and she used to love that road because it was very scenic.
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